National Register of Historic Places Registration Form

(Oct. 1990) United States Department of the Interior National Park Service NATIONAL REGISTER OF HISTORIC PLACES REGISTRATION FORM 1. NAME OF PROPERTY HISTORIC NAME: St. Joseph Apace Mission Church OTHER NAME/SITE NUMBER: St. Joseph Apache Mission; LA 20723 2. LOCATION STREET & NUMBER: 626 Mission Trail NOT FOR PUBLICATION: N/A CITY OR TOWN: Mescalero VICINITY: N/A STATE: New Mexico CODE: NM COUNTY: Otero CODE:035 ZIP CODE: 88340 3. STATE/FEDERAL AGENCY CERTIFICATION ______________________________________________ As the designated authority under the National Historic Preservation Act, as amended, I hereby certify that this _x_nomination __ request for determination of eligibility meets the documentation standards for registering properties in the National Register of Historic Places and meets the procedural and professional requirements set forth in 36 CFR Part 60. In my opinion, the property _x_meets __ does not meet the National Register criteria. I recommend that this property be considered significant __ nationally _x _ statewide _ locally. ( __ See continuation sheet for additional comments.) Sfgnature of certifying official Date State Historic Preservation Officer State or Federal agency and bureau In my opinion, the property meets __ does not meet the National Register criteria. ( __ See continuation sheet for additional comments.) Signature of commenting or other official Date State or Federal agency and bureau 4. NATIONAL PARK SERVICE CERTIFICATION______________________________ I hereby certify that this property is: Signature of the Keeper Date of Action / S^r / ' ^S* J entered in the National Register /w-^n>^ /J &&-i*-<sf_______ ___ofy __ See continuation sheet. determined eligible for the National Register ________________________ ___ __ See continuation sheet. determined not eligible for the National Register ___ removed from the National Register other (explain): ___________ ySDI/NPS NRHP Registration Form St. Joseph Apace Mission Church, Mescalero, Otero County, New Mexico____________Page 2 5. CLASSIFICATION OWNERSHIP OF PROPERTY: Private CATEGORY OF PROPERTY: Building NUMBER OF RESOURCES WITHIN PROPERTY: CONTRIBUTING NONCONTRIBUTING 1 0 BUILDINGS 0 0 SITES 0 3 STRUCTURES 0 0 OBJECTS 1 3 TOTAL NUMBER OF CONTRIBUTING RESOURCES PREVIOUSLY LISTED IN THE NATIONAL REGISTER: 0 NAME OF RELATED MULTIPLE PROPERTY LISTING: N/A 6. FUNCTION OR USE_________________________________________________________ HISTORIC FUNCTIONS: RELIGON/religious facility/church CURRENT FUNCTIONS: RELIGION/religious facility/church 7. DESCRIPTION____________________________________________________________ ARCHITECTURAL CLASSIFICATION: LATE 19th and 20th CENTURY REVIVALS: Late Gothic Revival MATERIALS: FOUNDATION STONE/Sandstone WALLS STONE/Sandstone ROOF TERRA COTTA OTHER METAL (window frames, light fixtures); GLASS (art-glass windows); WOOD (doors, furniture) NARRATIVE DESCRIPTION (see continuation sheets 7-5 through 7-9). USDI/NPS NRHP Registration Form St. Joseph Apace Mission Church, Mescalero, Otero County, New Mexico____________Page 3 8. STATEMENT OF SIGNIFICANCE_____________________________________ APPLICABLE NATIONAL REGISTER CRITERIA _ _A PROPERTY is ASSOCIATED WITH EVENTS THAT HAVE MADE A SIGNIFICANT CONTRIBUTION TO THE BROAD PATTERNS OF OUR HISTORY. _x_B PROPERTY is ASSOCIATED WITH THE LIVES OF PERSONS SIGNIFICANT IN OUR PAST. _x_C PROPERTY EMBODIES THE DISTINCTIVE CHARACTERISTICS OF A TYPE, PERIOD, OR METHOD OF CONSTRUCTION OR REPRESENTS THE WORK OF A MASTER, OR POSSESSES HIGH ARTISTIC VALUE, OR REPRESENTS A SIGNIFICANT AND DISTINGUISHABLE ENTITY WHOSE COMPONENTS LACK INDIVIDUAL DISTINCTION. _ D PROPERTY HAS YIELDED, OR is LIKELY TO YIELD, INFORMATION IMPORTANT IN PREHISTORY OR HISTORY. CRITERIA CONSIDERATIONS: A, Religious Properties AREAS OF SIGNIFICANCE: ARCHITECTURE; RELIGION PERIOD OF SIGNIFICANCE: 1920-1954 SIGNIFICANT DATES: 1920; 1928; 1939; 1945; 1946 SIGNIFICANT PERSON: Braun, Father Albert A., O.F.M. CULTURAL AFFILIATION: N/A ARCHITECT/BUILDER: Stanton, William C., architect NARRATIVE STATEMENT OF SIGNIFICANCE (see continuation sheets 8-10 through 8-25). 9. MAJOR BIBLIOGRAPHIC REFERENCES_______________________________________________ BIBLIOGRAPHY (see continuation sheets 9-26 through 9-28). PREVIOUS DOCUMENTATION ON FILE (NFS): N/A _ preliminary determination of individual listing (36 CFR 67) has been requested. _ previously listed in the National Register _ previously determined eligible by the National Register _ designated a National Historic Landmark _ recorded by Historic American Buildings Survey # _ recorded by Historic American Engineering Record # PRIMARY LOCATION OF ADDITIONAL DATA: x State historic preservation office (Historic Preservation Division, Office of Cultural Affairs) _ Other state agency _ Federal agency x_Local government _ University x_Other ~ Specify Repository: Province of St. Barbara, Order of Franciscans Minor, Santa Barbara, Cal USDI/NPS NRHP Registration Form St. Joseph Apace Mission Church, Mescalero, Otero County, New Mexico____________Page 4 10. GEOGRAPHICAL DATA_____________________________________________________ ACREAGE OF PROPERTY: less than one acre UTM REFERENCES Zone Easting Northing 1 13 428425 3668729 VERBAL BOUNDARY DESCRIPTION (see continuation sheet 10-29 through 10-30) BOUNDARY JUSTIFICATION (see continuation sheet 10-29 through 10-30) 11. FORM PREPARED BY_______________________________________________________ NAME/TITLE: Mary M. Serna, Restoration Administrator James W. Steely, Consultant ORGANIZATION: St. Joseph Apache Mission Restoration Project DATE: March 2004; revised photographs, July 2004 STREET & NUMBER: 626 Mission Trail TELEPHONE: 505-464-4539 CITY OR TOWN: Mescalero STATE: NM ZIP CODE: 88340 ADDITIONAL DOCUMENTATION___________________________________ CONTINUATION SHEETS MAPS (see attached Mescalero, N. Mex. Quadrangle 7.5-minute series U.S.G.S. topographic map) Map of nominated property boundary (see continuation sheet 10-30) PHOTOGRAPHS (see continuation sheet Photo-31) ADDITIONAL ITEMS N/A PROPERTY OWNER___________________________________________________________ NAME: Diocese of Las Cruces, Most Reverent Ricardo Ramirez, C.S.B. STREET & NUMBER: 1280 Med Park Drive TELEPHONE: 505-524-3874 CITY OR TOWN: Las Cruces STATE: NM ZIP CODE: 88005 NPS Form 10-900-a OMB Approval No. 1024-0018 (8-86) United States Department of the Interior National Park Service National Register of Historic Places Continuation Sheet St. Joseph Apache Mission Church Section 7 Page 5 _______________________Mescalero, Otero County, New Mexico Description Built between 1920 and 1939 on the stone floor of an estimated 200-1400 A.D. Jornada Mogollon-culture prehistoric ruin, the Late Gothic Revival style St. Joseph Apache Mission Church dominates prominent ground surrounded by the Sacramento Mountains and the drainage of the Rio Tularosa and South Rio Tularosa of south-central New Mexico. St. Joseph Apache Mission, designed by Philadelphia architect William Stanton, is a substantial Late Gothic Revival edifice. In plan, the Mission church sanctuary is in the shape of a cross, 131 feet long and 60 feet wide, terminated by eaves soaring 50 feet above the ground. The exterior and interior is made of sandstone, a dense material roughly finished. The facade of St. Joseph Apache Mission Church faces west with large double wooden doors, broad segmental arched transoms, and wrought-iron decorative trim, flanked by stone buttresses and art-glass windows depicting St. Clare and St. Francis. The church and its immediate setting retain a high degree of integrity as to their location, design, materials, workmanship, feeling and association. Dramatic views to and from the property include the surrounding mountains and White Sands far to the west in the Tularosa Basin. The steep mountains that surround the Mission are covered with pifion, cedar, juniper and conifer trees. The grounds around the Mission are covered with native plants, trees and wildflowers. The remains of an apple orchard planted by church builder Father Albert Braun covers the property to the north, and native oak and choke cherry trees separate the friary and the road up to the parking lot next to the Mission. The Rio Tularosa flows north and wraps around the west side of the property, connecting with the South Rio Tularosa that flows at its south side. St. Joseph Apache Mission Church is a substantial, solid-sandstone wall, Late Gothic Revival building following the stylistic definition of Marcus Whiffen (1976) and others. Its broad-arched windows and doorways lack the characteristic centered point of typical Gothic arches, so the elegant segmental arches at Mescalero merely hint at their broad-arched English Gothic origins (Photo 1). Whiffen described this Late Gothic characteristic as typical of a progressive 20th century architect who sought to develop the medieval style further "into something new," to "make the style his own." "Late Gothic Revival buildings," wrote Whiffen, "are quieter and 'smoother' in design than those of the High Victorian Gothic" of the previous generation. "Silhouettes are simpler, polychromy is rare... Late Gothic Revival churches are substantially built of masonry - stone when it was practicable..." (Whiffen 1976: 173). Philadelphia architect William Stanton's design for the Mission church sprang from a number of well publicized designs of the time. Particularly well known were Cram, Goodhue and Ferguson's 1910 West Point chapel and other new buildings at the U.S. Military Academy in New York, and Bertram

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